PrintJuly 25, 2010
Time to Put Policital Correctness in the 'Dustbin of History'
Being politically correct is such a bore and a total waste of time, because we all have our own notions of how things should be. In the 2002 Microsoft Encarta Dictionary (St. Martin's Press, New York, NY) under "America" there is a note that reads: "The use of America to mean the United States may cause offense to people from Canada and Central and South America, and should be avoided. Use North America to refer to the United States and Canada together."
Now there's a politically correct crock! But that's part our daily fare. Whereas I grew up believing we live in a democracy, I was chastised by an American Thinker reader (June 1, 2010) who says that this is a Constitutional Republic. I've also been demeaned by another American Thinker reader (May 18, 2010) because I admit to being a registered Democrat and for using a hyphen when explaining my being a Mexican American instead of the more politically correct American of Hispanic descent. These critics really do need to get a life.
Fact is that I am an American who votes his conscience. My cultural heritage (half-Mexican, Roman Catholic, grandson of a Rabbi) has little bearing on my intellectual processes; life experience does. Being a registered Democrat does not make me an Obama aficionado, which I'm not, any more than standing in a restaurant cooler would make me a quart of milk, which I also am not.
Far Left and Far Right are comprised of fanatics who want everything their way and will degrade anyone in an effort to succeed. I subscribe to centrism or moderation in politics, religion, matrimony, and all the other facets of life. When I was a PFC in the U.S. Army, a rare beauty came into my sights. Within 10 days, we had embarked on a marriage that would last far beyond expectations. Why? Because we quickly ascertained that marriage is a 50-50 proposition and the only way you hit the average is to recognize that it is just that, an average; sometimes the split is 65-35, 30-70, etc. We are now at 50 years and counting. Far left and far right have been around longer but are far less successful. Just look at their collective track record. Their greatest successes involve running government into the ground while blaming each other.
A devout Democrat recently assured me that Barack Obama is neither Socialist nor Communist, just a duly elected citizen. By way of rebuttal, I submit the following definitions.
In Random House Webster's College Thesaurus (Random House, Inc. NY), Soviet Communism is described thusly: ".....under Communism all banks were nationalized: Bolshevism, dictatorship of the proletariat, Marxism, state socialism." Under Socialism, the clarification reads: "Public ownership, collectivization, nationalism." Doesn't that sound like the Obama Administration push for national healthcare and redistribution of the wealth?
Webster's Third College Edition New World Dictionary (Macmillan, USA) defines Communism as "a hypothetical stage of socialism, as formulated by Marx, Engels, Lenin and others, to be characterized by a classless and stateless society and the equal distribution of goods, and to be achieved by revolutionary dictatorial, rather than gradualistic means."
Socialism, on the other hand, is described as "the stage of society, in Marxist doctrine, coming between the capitalist stage and the communist stage, in which private ownership of the means of production and distribution has been eliminated." Nervous yet?
Louis Blanc, a 19th century French socialist stated (and Karl Marx later picked up): "From each according to his abilities to each according to his need." Essentially, he said to pool your talents and produce equally. His proponents complain that there is too much disparity between the haves and the have-nots in a free society such as ours.
In our capitalistic democracy, the have-nots who produce more, keep more, and become haves. On the way, they often create opportunities for other have-nots, permitting them to move on up the ladder. Marxist/Leninist socialism keeps the workers from climbing by pulling them back down.
In a nutshell, communism fails simply because it goes against the human grain. If the lazy lout is going to get an equal share of what the dedicated worker receives, then there is no incentive for either to produce. That's why much of today's revolutionary "accomplishments" will likely by modified into oblivion in the coming election cycle.
While the Obama people push Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Blanc, their loyal opposition can only obstruct because they've also been rummaging in the cookie jar. As George Orwell noted, "All animals are equal, only pigs are more equal."
By and large, professional politicians are out for their own personal gains, whether it be profit, power, ego or prestige. There is an old Yugoslav proverb that says, "If you wish to know what a man is, give him authority." (Great Quotations, Pocket Books, NY, NY.) In the Hispanic community, the saying is, "Tell me who you hang out with and I'll tell you who you are."
A sign of the times was found in the July 18, 2010 Sunday Parade cartoons, where two men are seated before a microphone and one is saying, "Counsel advises me Senator, that, yes, there is a right and wrong."
American people are generous to a fault when their fellow man is in desperate need, but they get their backs up when commanded to give. Let us do the right thing for the right reason, not because some arrogant, overbearing, autocratic, group of yahoos proclaims that we must. And that goes for the Far Right and the Far Left. Moderation or centrism is an integral part of the mainstream. Just check out the number of citizens who are registering as Independents these days, as opposed to Republican or Democrat.
In Arizona, reputed land of racism and profiling, the true Americans (i.e. those who've assimilated), stand profoundly for the spirit of SB 1070.
Jim Price is the author of the 2009 philosophical saga entitled "Of People, Poppies and God." Available through eloquentbooks.com, amazon.com, or abrazobooks.com.
